1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus, a remote management system, a license update method, and a computer program product for managing and updating a license.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a method has been developed for automatically performing a process of updating a license of an application installed in an image processing apparatus. For example, a method has been proposed in which a timing to update a license is determined based on an expiration date to automatically update the license (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2006-235963).
In the technology disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2006-235963, a method is proposed in which information is input to an input box to set how many days before a license expiration date a license is automatically updated and whether to automatically update the license before the number of printed sheets exceeds the upper limit so that a timing to update the license can be determined based on setting information and license information (e.g., the expiration date and the upper-limit number of printed sheets) that are managed separately, and a license update request can automatically be performed at the timing.
However, in the method disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2006-235963, it is difficult to change a type of a license at the timing of the automatic update. Therefore, when an agreement type is to be changed, it is necessary to perform operation of cancelling an agreement and then perform works to newly install a newly-purchased program on an apparatus side. Furthermore, it is impossible to change only the agreement type for an identical program. Thus, in the method disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2006-235963, the type of a license cannot be changed at the time of update, leading to cumbersome and complicated operation.
The present invention has been made in view of the above, and it is an object of the present invention to provide an image processing apparatus, a remote management system, a license update method, and a computer program product capable of enhancing convenience.